29 October 2009 | 4 comments

The community gospel part 2 Lionel Windsor

Martin Kemp29/10/2009 04:27 AM

Yes, of course there is the danger of turning something good into an idol. It’s the case with everything that’s not God.

However, if we are speaking about what is ‘dangerous’, it’s interesting to note that the NT warnings seem to point in the other direction, ie the warning not to neglect community as opposed to the warning not to have it displace the gospel. Does this emphasis reflect what is perhaps the bigger danger?

Linked to this, your own post finds easy Biblical references re the importance of community, but then flies solo as you drive your main point home. I think your point still has legs, but could perhaps find a stronger argument with ref to passages emphasising that gospel communities are created as people respond to the word preached.

Lionel Windsor29/10/2009 11:52 AM

Hi Marty,

You make a good point about my lack of biblical references as the article comes to a conclusion. Thanks for picking me up there.

I think some helpful Bible passages would be the ones that emphasise the gospel / God’s word as the foundational constitutive element of our communities. For example, Hebrews 10:23-25; Colossians 3:17; Philippians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 14. The places in the Bible that urge us not to neglect community are often the very places that emphasise that God’s word must remain at the centre of our communities.

NB I haven’t just chosen to write about the “community” idea as a random example of something good that could be turned into an idol. I’ve chosen this particular one because I can see many places where ideas of “human” community are actually replacing ideas of true gospel community, and therefore I think it’s very important right now to talk about this particular example.

Bronwyn Windsor29/10/2009 04:27 PM

So in the 19th Century an implication of the gospel was a focus on “Morality”, possibly as a result of the social decay after the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment; in the 20th Century the focus was on “Science” - especially medical science - hence the “Missionary Doctor” who brought healing and the gospel; and in the 21st Century it’s “Community” amongst our fragmented families and fragmented society. It’s the same gospel, but the implications have been different in different times in history. Good not to get caught up in our times and our implications (good as they are) and confuse this with the actual gospel. I wonder if anyone knows what the particular focus on the gospel’s implication/s was before the 19th Century?

one-athan Peart03/11/2009 05:53 PM

Here I sit,
Alone.
Feeling the need to part of a mini micro blogosphere, a ‘scene’.

I am a unity.
I am in Christ.
Christ is in me.
We have a unity in common.
We are a community.

You are a unity.
You are in Christ.

In Christ we share a common unity.
Making ours a Christian community.
To have our unity in anything other than Christ would not be Christian community.
Still a unity.
Still nice.
Just not Christian.

cue music
music swells
We’re one
But we are not the same

Fade to black.

Unity in Christ language viv-a-vis unity in the gospel language Lionel?
I really should get back to studying.

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